JOHN ZORN / STEVE COLEMAN / CHRISTIAN McBRIDE / TSHAWN SOREY
The Village Vanguard, New York - Sunday 28th May 2017
The Village Vanguard, New York - Sunday 28th May 2017
This was the first ever concert of a new grouping featuring two alto saxes (Zorn and Coleman), bass (McBride), and drums/percussion (Sorey). The performance - about 80 minutes in a single set - was entirely improvised, and organised in familiar energetic form on stage by Zorn into a series of short duets, trios and quartets.
In Coleman and Zorn, this band has a horn pairing of two of the most influential improvising musicians in America in the last three and a half decades. Both possess an instantly recognisable tone and have developed diverse but equally unique and recognisable harmonic and rhythmic language. Both are walking definitions of the benefits that flow from being a restless polymath as an improvisor.
In this set, at times the two horns blended in a music that seemed to emanate from the two hands of a single musician - completing counterpoint phrases that bounced between them, finding harmonies and counter balancing lines. While Zorn screamed rapid repeat alto crescendos, Coleman played insistent fragments of repeat but constantly evolving phrases. Coleman's playing never ventured into the sustained free harmonics of Zorn. His logic of creating a harmonic, melodic and rhythmic nest of short, flowing and seamlessly interchanging units was a gripping counterpoint, and one that Zorn would also share to great effect at times.
Ironically, the one discreet duet missing from this set was that of the two saxes, but the stand-out and stand-alone duet was that between McBride's bass and Sorey's drums, and throughout this entire set, McBride was an absolute revelation as an improvisor, free player, and as a collective improviser. McBride needs no introduction as one of the most gifted performers on any instrument in contemporary jazz, yet it is a shame that, on this showing, he is so rarely heard in such totally free performances. This was the first time that Coleman and McBride had ever played together in public.
McBride’s playing is marked by an intense and highly efficient approach, relatively sparse but every beat and note matters, and his tone is rich and grounding. At times he was Grimes-like, providing the organisational/harmonic anchor of an improvisation, keeping a focus on the distinct qualities of the music in hand. Sorey is a drummer possessed of a huge and flexible range of rhythmic and tonal voicing, an improvisor of imagination and drive who seems as equally versed in the traditions of improvisation in the USA as he is in those differing forms of improvisation in Europe. During the duet, McBride fell silent to take in a flow of time and out phrases from Sorey that left the bass master shaking his head in astonishment at what was unfolding on the drums. It was a merited response.
But, from the highly compelling enjoyment of this set by its performers - think on-going high fives, knuckle touches, calls of ‘well-played' - and their obvious trust in Zorn's decision making, it is also clear that this was an event that was not spontaneous, I think in some way it was always going to happen and the recent residency of Coleman at The Village Vanguard seems to have provided an opportunity for a one-off Sunday afternoon special that fits well into the Village Vanguard’s stellar legacy of support for this music.
In a brief discussion with Zorn after the gig’s close, the saxophonist put the unity they had achieved, and the depth and joy of it reality down to a single additional factor: “it works because we really care for each other. ”
Review by Peter Urpeth
In Coleman and Zorn, this band has a horn pairing of two of the most influential improvising musicians in America in the last three and a half decades. Both possess an instantly recognisable tone and have developed diverse but equally unique and recognisable harmonic and rhythmic language. Both are walking definitions of the benefits that flow from being a restless polymath as an improvisor.
In this set, at times the two horns blended in a music that seemed to emanate from the two hands of a single musician - completing counterpoint phrases that bounced between them, finding harmonies and counter balancing lines. While Zorn screamed rapid repeat alto crescendos, Coleman played insistent fragments of repeat but constantly evolving phrases. Coleman's playing never ventured into the sustained free harmonics of Zorn. His logic of creating a harmonic, melodic and rhythmic nest of short, flowing and seamlessly interchanging units was a gripping counterpoint, and one that Zorn would also share to great effect at times.
Ironically, the one discreet duet missing from this set was that of the two saxes, but the stand-out and stand-alone duet was that between McBride's bass and Sorey's drums, and throughout this entire set, McBride was an absolute revelation as an improvisor, free player, and as a collective improviser. McBride needs no introduction as one of the most gifted performers on any instrument in contemporary jazz, yet it is a shame that, on this showing, he is so rarely heard in such totally free performances. This was the first time that Coleman and McBride had ever played together in public.
McBride’s playing is marked by an intense and highly efficient approach, relatively sparse but every beat and note matters, and his tone is rich and grounding. At times he was Grimes-like, providing the organisational/harmonic anchor of an improvisation, keeping a focus on the distinct qualities of the music in hand. Sorey is a drummer possessed of a huge and flexible range of rhythmic and tonal voicing, an improvisor of imagination and drive who seems as equally versed in the traditions of improvisation in the USA as he is in those differing forms of improvisation in Europe. During the duet, McBride fell silent to take in a flow of time and out phrases from Sorey that left the bass master shaking his head in astonishment at what was unfolding on the drums. It was a merited response.
But, from the highly compelling enjoyment of this set by its performers - think on-going high fives, knuckle touches, calls of ‘well-played' - and their obvious trust in Zorn's decision making, it is also clear that this was an event that was not spontaneous, I think in some way it was always going to happen and the recent residency of Coleman at The Village Vanguard seems to have provided an opportunity for a one-off Sunday afternoon special that fits well into the Village Vanguard’s stellar legacy of support for this music.
In a brief discussion with Zorn after the gig’s close, the saxophonist put the unity they had achieved, and the depth and joy of it reality down to a single additional factor: “it works because we really care for each other. ”
Review by Peter Urpeth
